The Final Season

This article is about the 2007 baseball film. For the Tom Stanton memoir, see The Final Season (book).
The Final Season

Theatrical release poster
Directed by David Mickey Evans
Produced by
Written by Art D'Alessandro
Starring Sean Astin
Powers Boothe
Tom Arnold
Rachael Leigh Cook
Michael Angarano
Music by Nathan Wang
Cinematography Dan Stoloff
Edited by Harry Kerimidas
Distributed by Yari Film Group
Freestyle Releasing[1]
Release dates
  • October 12, 2007 (2007-10-12)
Running time
 114 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1,159,691[2]

The Final Season is a 2007 baseball film starring Sean Astin, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tom Arnold, Powers Boothe, Brett Claywell, Michael Angarano, and Marshall Bell and directed by David Mickey Evans. The film wrapped production in 2006 in Shellsburg, Iowa, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and was released in the United States and Canada on October 12, 2007, by Yari Film Group.

The film premiered three times at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The film also premiered in Cedar Rapids on October 7, 2007.

Plot

This is the true story of Kent Stock (Sean Astin), who in 1991 takes on what he perceives as the job of a lifetime as head coach of the Norway High School baseball team, a school which has won 19 state titles and has a baseball tradition in Iowa tantamount to that of the New York Yankees nationally.

Kent is unaware that he has been picked by the school's principal, pushing a consolidation of Norway with a larger school district, to replace legendary Tigers coach Jim Van Scoyoc to have a losing season and destroy the baseball program, around which town opposition to the consolidation is centered. In turn, thinking Kent's only head coaching experience is as a girls' volleyball coach, the principal is unaware he was a star player for his Division III college baseball team and a student of the game.

Several of the team's returning stars refuse to go out for Kent, who must win over the rest and convince them, the skeptical townspeople and himself that he can fill their former coach's shoes, all while dealing with the reality that this will be the team's final season due to the impending merger. With the support of a young female state auditor whose findings helped push through the merger, and a gadfly baseball writer from Des Moines who is following the team, Kent learns to motivate the team his own way.

In May 1991, Norway High's baseball tradition ended on a triumphant but somber note as it wins its 20th state championship in its final season. A video clip of actual coach Kent Stock thanking Van Scoyoc publicly for the opportunity opens the final scene.

The film depicts the Norway School District merging with the "Madison School District". Norway actually was consolidated into the Benton Community School District.

Cast

Reception

The Final Season received mainly negative to mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a "Rotten" rating of 26%, based on 50 reviews.[3] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 43 out of 100, based on 16 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".[4] The film grossed $1,159,691 in the USA.

Production notes

References

  1. ↑ http://freestylereleasing.com/the-final-season/
  2. ↑ Boxofficemojo.com
  3. ↑ "The Final Season - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
  4. ↑ "Final Season, The (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
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